Probably one of the strongest and most storied franchises in gaming history is that of The Legend of Zelda. It’s a series that’s spanned entire generations, and it’s one that has a diverse sampling of fans in age, gender and gaming experience. In the most recent Iwata Asks column featured by Nintendo, Satoru Iwata spoke with several of the developers behind the upcoming Zelda: Skyward Sword about where this entry stands in the overall timeline and who, in terms of players, it’s meant for.

According to Hidemaro Fujibayashi, Skyward Sword is actually the earliest story in the entire Zelda timeline. It’s the first for everything within this game’s lengthy universe.

“Chronologically, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword is the very first story. At the beginning, we talked about how it traces the origin of the Master Sword, but all sorts of other elements develop, so the story is denser than ever before.”

As the developers go on to explain, this being the first story in Zelda‘s timeline, it makes sense that the game and its mechanics would be open wide enough for players of all ages to join in. The team believes MotionPlus facilitates an almost ageless entry level.

Here’s an exchange between Satoru Iwata, Hidemaro Fujibayashi and Eiji Aonuma on the matter of this game as a point of entry:

Iwata: You’ve prepared a good entrance into the series both for people who know The Legend of Zelda up to this point and for people who don’t.

Aonuma: Yes.

Fujibayashi: Speaking as the director, we paid constant attention this time to making the game playable even for five-year-olds or nine-year-olds. We tried to make something that would not have a setting enjoyable only by fans or something only the creators would be happy with. And more than anything, this time you can have sword fights with Wii MotionPlus.

Iwata: In a sense, everyone is a beginner when it comes to that. The story is the first one and it is the first Legend of Zelda game to use the Wii MotionPlus technology.

Aonuma: That’s right. Everyone is starting from zero. It’s the first Legend of Zelda game for everyone. For one thing, it begins with how to use Wii MotionPlus as a tool. And once you become accustomed to this tool, you can experience the mysterious sense of it matching the movement of your body.

As an editorial note, WiiMotion Plus may make the game mechanically approachable to five-year-olds, but the difficulty of the puzzles within the title will keep them away from long gaming stints without assistance. I’ve been playing the title for more than a week now, and I’ll say that it’s puzzling elements are challenging and inventive enough to give even tried Zelda fans a run for their money.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword will sell for the Wii on November 20th.